TROON, Scotland – The way it often does for major championship winners, everything fell into place for Justin Leonard seven years ago at Royal Troon.
No one was paying attention to Leonard until he was force-fed himself to the masses as the unlikely 1997 British Open champion, an accidental tourist of sorts.
That’s because the fascination with Tiger Woods was in its early stages. Woods had just stamped a 64 at Troon in the third round to put himself in quasi-contention.
It, too, was because a couple of European hopefuls were seemingly poised to capture the Claret Jug. Both Irishman Darren Clarke and Swede Jesper Parnevik spent a lot more time near the top of the leaderboard than Leonard did.
And, Leonard is generally a fly-below-the-radar type of guy.
But there he was on the back nine seven years ago at Troon, making putt after crucial putt and eventually stealing the show from Woods and the favored European contingent to win the Jug.
Afterward, Leonard, then 25, made a poignant speech from the 18th green about how he’d come to Scotland by himself, bringing no family or friends, and that it was just he and his caddie, Bob Riefke, all week.
Leonard, Riefke and a couple other people went out to the 17th green to eat pizza and drink pints to celebrate long after the masses had departed that Sunday night.
“According to the rumor I heard, we had a few pints out there and it was dark,” Leonard joked yesterday, not wanting to give himself up for breaking any local rules. “I heard three or four guys were out there with me, just from what I read.”
Well, times have changed for Leonard.
Riefke, his only support system here in ’97, has long since been replaced. Brent Everson is on Leonard’s bag as he prepares for the 2004 British Open, here this week. Riefke? He’s now with Tour newcomer Hunter Mahan, who qualified to get into the field. And, instead of riding in on Leonard’s coattails, Riefke actually bummed a ride from a Chicago sports writer to get to Troon from the Glasgow airport yesterday.
Seven years later, Leonard’s first major championship victory, at Troon, remains his finest moment and his only major.
He’s married with a child and was planning to bring his parents abroad for this trip, but seven years after his great moment, Leonard is not playing very good golf. He has missed his last three cuts, including the U.S. Open, and four of his last seven.
Seven years later, Leonard is hoping the mere sight of Troon and its beautifully understated one-story clubhouse will elevate his game again.
“To go back as a past champion is special,” Leonard said. “But to go back to where I won is something that is just too hard to imagine.”
Leonard hasn’t had a disappointing career since winning the British, having averaged about one win per year since, but his career never took off the way many felt it would after the Open victory. He did lose out in that infamous three-way playoff in the Open at Carnoustie in 1999 when Paul Lawrie outlasted Leonard and Jean Van de Velde.
“I haven’t played well,” Leonard conceded of his recent play. “[But] with my record at the Open Championship, I feel it should be a good week for me.
“In 1997, I was not playing well until about a month before,” Leonard recalled. “I am hoping I can have the same kind of turnaround. Certainly returning to Troon and with the fans being as wonderful as they are, that should bring some great memories and a bit of confidence as well.”
Leonard conceded that his youth at the time likely aided him in the most pressure-packed situation in 1997.
“My lack of experience at the time may have been one of my greatest assets,” he said. “I didn’t feel the pressure of expectations like it was my tournament to lose or anything like that. I was just trying to shoot the best score I could. I try and return to that feeling as often as I can. My attitude was probably I did not realize the pressure I was battling, like Jesper or Darren were feeling.”
Leonard carded a spotless 65 in that final round, including eight birdies, to overtake Parnevik, who shot 73 and lost by three shots. The eight-shot comeback by Leonard, who finished in 12-under-par, still stands as the largest Open comeback since Jim Barnes in 1925.